He had expected so much of Fannin's men, and Crockett and Bowie before him had expected so much! Yet here they were, beleaguered as the Texans had been beleaguered in the Alamo, and there were no walls behind which they could fight.

It seemed to Ned that the hand of fate itself had resolved to strike down the Texans.

He knew that Urrea, one of Santa Anna's ablest and most tenacious generals, would never relax the watch for an instant.

In the darkness he could hear the Mexican sentinels calling to one another: "Sentinela Alerte!" The cold damp allayed the thirst of the young recruits, but the crater was the scene of gloom.

They did not dare to light a fire, knowing it would draw the Indian bullets at once, or perhaps cannon shots.